Some roads (or highways, bridges, tunnels, etc.) require payments for their use. Such roads are commonly referred to as “toll roads” or “turnpikes” and such payments are commonly referred to as a “toll.” The money accrued from collecting toll payments may be used to maintain the road for which the toll was collected. The toll charged may be based on an amount of distance a vehicle travels on the road, the time of day that a vehicle travels on the road, and the type of vehicle that is traveling on the road (e.g., vehicles with different numbers of axels may be required to pay different tolls). If payment is not made when a vehicle passes a toll, a driver or the vehicle's owner may be issued a ticket or citation for using the road without paying the toll. The fee associated with such ticket may often be for more than the toll payment that was due.
Historically, people have been employed to collect tolls at certain points along a road. For example, a person may be stationed in a toll booth at the entrance or exit of a highway to collect the toll payment as a vehicle enters or exits the highway, respectively. Getting through such checkpoints may be frustrating for drivers. For example, drivers may be frustrated with the lines or traffic that may be formed as a result of the time it takes to make toll payments. Drivers may also become frustrated if they do not have the exact change or enough money on hand to pay for the toll.
To address some of these frustrations, more recently technology has been developed to improve the toll payment process. Some companies or organizations (e.g., EZ Pass) offer a service that allows toll payments to be collected automatically so that the vehicles do not have to stop and/or drivers do not need to pay cash for the toll. A company may provide a customer with a transponder that may be placed in the customer's vehicle so that when the vehicle is driven through a toll gateway the transponder is detected. Detection of the transponder may cause an account to be automatically charged for the toll.
This more recent toll payment process may be considered an improvement over the traditional collection process, but is not without disadvantages as well. In some cases, customers may have to pay a fee to acquire the transponder. Also, customers may be charged if they lose the transponder. Further, a customer may have multiple vehicles and may need a transponder in each of their vehicles or may have to remember to move the transponder into their different vehicles. In some cases, customers have been known to forget to put their transponder in their vehicle. Also, customers may not have their transponder with them when they are driving another vehicle, such as a friend's vehicle, a rental car, etc. Moreover, the customer may have to place the transponder on the windshield or at another inconvenient/distracting spot on the vehicle. In some cases the transponder may not work if it is in, for example, a glove compartment of a vehicle.
In addition, customers may have to set up the account from which toll payments are deducted. In some cases, this account may be linked with a customer's bank account so that it is replenished at certain points. Alternatively, a customer may be responsible for manually managing the account and ensuring that the account has enough money in it when the customer's vehicle goes through a toll checkpoint. If the customer fails to have enough money in the account, the customer may receive a ticket or be charged a surcharge fee (or another extra fee).
In light of the above, despite advancements in technology, there are still challenges and disadvantages with respect to the toll payment process. Accordingly, new systems, devices, methodologies, and software are desired to facilitate toll payments.